The present invention relates to a connector and an electronic device module having a connector, particularly to a floating connector and an electronic device module having a floating connector.
A floating connector that absorbs positional misalignment of connectors when the connectors are fitted with each other has been conventionally used, and a floating connector as illustrated in FIGS. 20, 21, 22 and 23 is disclosed in JP 2010-118314 A, for example. The floating connector includes a housing 1 and a plurality of contacts 2. Each of the contacts 2 is formed of a strip-shaped metal piece that has been bent, and has a contact portion 3, a board connecting portion 4 to be connected to a board 8 and a fixing portion 5 formed between the contact portion 3 and the board connecting portion 4 and fixed to the housing 1. In addition, each of the contacts 2 has an elastic portion 7 made of an arm portion 6 that connects the fixing portion 5 to the board connecting portion 4 and that is bent by 180°; the contacts 2 fixed to the housing 1 operate together.
The arm portion 6 including the elastic portion 7 elastically expands and contracts in a connector connecting direction D1 so that the housing 1 is capable of linearly floating along the connector connecting direction D1. Moreover, as illustrated in FIG. 23, the arm portion 6 including the elastic portion 7 elastically twists and deforms so that the housing 1 is capable of linearly floating along a direction D3 perpendicular to the connector connecting direction D1.
In order for the floating connector disclosed by JP 2010-118314 A to float with a reduced external force that is applied when being fitted with a counter connector, the arm portion 6 including the elastic portion 7 needs to have a length long enough to be readily elastically deformable.
Meanwhile, as illustrated in FIG. 22 where the housing 1 is not applied with an external force along the direction D3 and in FIG. 23 where the housing 1 is applied with an external force along the direction D3, when the housing 1 linearly floats along the direction D3, only the elastic portion 7 at which the arm portion 6 is bent by 180° twists and deforms, while other portions of the arm portion 6 extending along a direction D2 do not elastically deform. Accordingly, the elastic portion 7 at which the arm portion 6 is bent by 180° needs to have a long length in the connector connecting direction D1 in order to decrease the force the housing 1 requires to float along the direction D3, and thus there is a problem that the mounting area of the floating connector in the connector connecting direction D1 becomes large.